Bottle-sealing machine.



No. 70mm. Pai tent ed Aug. 19, 1902.

'H. T-. GAY.

BOTTLE SEALING MACHINE.

' (Application filed May 13, 1901.)

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet |.I

WITNESSES:

INVENTOR- HTTQRNEYS Patented Aug. :9; 1902.

- H. T. GAY.

BOTTLE SEALING MACHINE.

(Application filed May -13, 1901.) (No Model.) -2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

EQEIIIQ INVENTOR ATTORNEYS- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HERMAN T. GAY, BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE ALUMINUM-CORK SEAL COMPANY, OF CAM- DEN, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

BOTTLE-SEALING MACHINE,

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 707,316, dated August 19, 1902.

Application filed May 18, 1901.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERMAN T. GAY, of the city of Baltimore and State of Maryland, have invented certain Improvements in Bottle- Sealing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved machine for securing in a bottle-mouth a sealing device of the character shown and described in Letters Patent Nos. 662,263and 669,254, granted to me on the 20th day of November, 1900, and the 5th day of March, 1901, respectively, for bottle-sealing devices, to which reference should be made. By reference to the said patents it will be seen that the said sealing device or plug consists of a sheet-metal flanged disk having stamped or drawn therefrom a downwardly-projecting extension over which is placed a cork-sealing gasket.

The bottle which is adapted to receive the above briefly-described sealing device has a mouth which is considerably largerin diameter than the throat, in which is formed an annular seat for the gasketed sealing-plug, and immediately above the said seat is an annular groove into which the flange of the sealing-plug is expanded or extended to hold the sealing device in place after the compression of its joint-forming gasket.

The office of the present machine is therefore to compress the cork gasket between the annular seat in the bottle and the under side of the sealing-plug and while the device is so held to expand the flange of the disk to hold the gasketed plug firmly in place.

In the further description of the said in-' vention which follows reference is made to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, and in which Figure l is an exterior side View of the improved machine. Fig. 2is a View the reverse of Fig. 1 and illustrating a slightly-modified construction, as hereinafter described. Fig. 3 is an enlarged central section of the upper part of the machine. Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are details of the machine on a still further enlarged scale. Fig. 7 is a sectional view of the upper end of a sealed bottle, together with Serial No. 69,916. (No model.)

a tool for removing the sealing-plug therefrom.

Referring now to the drawings, it will be seen that the stand 1 of the machine is contructed of columnar form. The upper part of the stand 1 is bored and fitted with a sliding plunger 2, having a bracket 3, which extends laterallytherefrom and through a slot 4 in the wall 5 of the stand. To this bracket is secured the sealing and plug applying head, which as an entirety is denoted by 6. I The plunger 2 is connected to the upper end of the rod 7, which at its lower end is attached to the treadle 9, which appears in Fig. 1 as the actuating device, whereby the head is drawn down. A reverse or upward movement of the plunger and head is eifected by the spring 10. (Shown only in Fig. 3.) The attachment of the rod 7 to the treadle 9 is not shown, as such connection is commonly employed in machines of this class.

In Fig. 2 the machine is shown as intended to be driven by steam-power, and to this end it is provided with a driving-pulley 11, and the treadle 8 is employed to set the machine in operation-an arrangement, however, which is well known and embodies no part of the present invention. The sealing and plug-applying head, which as an entirety is denoted by 6, consists of a shell 12, a portion of which about centrally of its length is bored to receive the plunger 14. The upper end 15 of this plunger is reduced in diameter and provided With a collar 16, which rests on the shoulder 17, formed by onlarging the bore of the shell.

Around the portion 15 of the plunger 14 is placed a spiral spring 19, which is confined endwise between the collar 16 and the follower 20, through which the reduced portion of the plunger loosely passes.

The lower part of the plunger 14 is provided with a projecting annulus 22, which serves as a fulcrum for the plug-expanding segmental jaws 24,11ereinafter described. The extremity of the plunger is formed into a conical button 25, against the side of which the said jaws are drawn closely in contact by means of the spring-band 26. In the operation of the machine this button serves to force the sealingplug down onto the annular shoulder in the bottle-throat, thereby forming a joint, as hereinafter more specifically described. Fig. 6 is an under side view of this button and the surrounding segmental jaws.

The segmental jaws 24 are removable from the annulus 22, they being merely notched so as to fit over the said annulus, and at their upper ends are beveled to fit the inclined wall 27 of the shell 12, with which they are in contact, and they stand away from the plunger to admit of their being moved collectively inward.

29 is a sleeve placed over the lower end of the shell 12 and adapted to slide longitudinally thereof. This sliding movement of the sleeve independently of the shell is limited by the screws 30, which pass through slots 31 and are screwed tightly into the wall of the shell. The head 32 of the sleeve 29 has a central conical aperture 33, into which the bot tie-head 37 enters at the beginning of the sealing operation, (see Figs. 4 and 5,) the former showing the sealing-plug 34 in the bottlemouth and before it is expanded therein and the latter the sealing-plug after the comple-.

tion of the sealing operation, the expansible jaws being in place in the plug.

In Fig. 4 the sleeve 29 is shown as in an extended position with reference to the shell 12, and the said relative positions of the two parts of the machine are maintained by the coiled spring 35, which occupies the space within the sleeve and between the head thereof and the end of the shell.

Fig. 7shows a sectional view of the head of a bottle with the stopper in place and a tool adapted to remove the stopper from the bottle-mouth; but this tool forms no part of the present invention.

38 is the bottle-stand; but the same is of common construction and needs no further description herein.

The operation of the machine is as follows: A bottle provided with a sealing-plug which rests on the annular shoulder in the bottlethroat is placed on the bottle-stand. The head 6 is now made to descend, and in its descent the bottle-head enters the aperture 33 in the sleeve 29, and the bottle is thereby centered. The downward motion of the sleeve 29 being suspended, the shell, plunger, and segmental plug-expanding jaws continue their course independently of the sleeve, the coiled spring 35 being compressed until the button 25 of the plunger 14: and the lower ends of the segmental jaws 24 enter the sealing-plug, the former compressing the jointforming gasket of the same. All joint movement of the shell, plunger, and segmental jaws being now suspended the shell alone moves downward, and the inclined surface of the shell bearing on the beveled ends of the segmental jaws they (the jaws) are forced inward, which has the effect of distending their lower ends, which at this time are within the sealing-plug, and the flange of that device is distended or forced into the groove in the bottle-mouth, thus completing the sealing operation. During the latterstage of the sealing operation the spring 19 is compressed, so that at the beginning of the upward or return movement of the head the said spring returns to its original condition, which admits of the reestablishment of the jaws to their normal position, so that they may be withdrawn from the expanded plug. Subsequent to the withdrawal of the expanding jaws from the sealing-plug the sleeve 29 is lifted from the sealed bottle, which may be then taken from the bottle-stand to make room for another unsealed one.

I claim as my invention-- 1. In a machine for expanding a sealingplug of substantially the character described, in the mouth of a bottle, and compressing a joint-forming gasket between the said plug and a seat formed in the bottle-throat, a vertically-moving head comprising a central plunger having near its lower end a projecting annulus, a system of distensible jaws arranged around the said plunger, and fulcrumed on the said projecting annulus,adapted to enter the said sealing-plug, a shell situated exteriorly of the said plunger and the distensible jaws, the same having an inclined inner surface which, in the downward movement of the shell, independently of the jaws, serves to eifect the distention of the portion of the jaws which are within the said plug, substantially as specified.

2. In a machine for expanding a sealingplug of substantially the character described, in the mouth of a bottle, and compressing a joint-forming gasket between the said plug and a seat formed in the bottle-throat, a head comprising a central plunger having near its lower end a projecting annulus, a system of distensible jaws fulcrumed on the said annulus, the lower ends of the said jaws being adapted to enterthe said sealingplug,aspring device to yieldingly hold the lower ends of the said jaws in contact with the said central plunger, and means to eifect the closing in of the upper ends of the said jaws, whereby the lower ends below the annular fulcrum are distended, substantially as specified.

3. In a machine for expanding a sealingplug of substantially the character described, in the mouth of a bottle, and compressing a joint-forming gasket between the said plug and a seat formed in the bottle-throat, a centering device for the bottle, a centrally-supported annulus situated above the bottle-centering device the said annulus carrying a series of jaws with their lower ends adapted to enter the sealingdevice to be expanded, the said centering device and the plug-expanding jaws having a movement one toward the other, and means whereby the said jaws are diametrically contracted at a point above the annular fulcrum, and their lower ends thereby expanded, substantially as specified.

IIO

4. Ina machine for expanding a sealingplug of substantially the character described, in the mouth of a bottle, and compressing a joint-forming gasket between the said plug and a seat formed in the bottle-throat, a head comprising a shell having an inclined inner surface, a bottle-centering sleeve connected to the lower end of the said shell and adapted to have a vertical movement independently of the same, a spring to retain the said shell and the bottle-centering sleeve in a distended position one with the other, a plunger susceptible of a sliding movement within the said shell and which extends into the said sleeve, having near its lower end a projecting annulus, a system of jaws fulcrumed to the said annulus with their lower ends provided with a spring-band to keep them normally in a contracted condition and cause their upper 

